text:
108 S.Ct. 396
98 L.Ed.2d 340
W.T. LANGLEY, et ux., Petitioners
No. 86-489.
Argued Oct. 14, 1987.
Decided Dec. 1, 1987.
To finance the purchase of land in Louisiana, petitioners borrowed money from a bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and, in consideration for the loan, executed a note, a collateral mortgage, and personal guarantees. When petitioners failed to pay an installment due on a renewal of the note, the bank filed suit for principal and interest in a Louisiana court, which suit was removed on diversity grounds to Federal District Court. Petitioners alleged, as a defense against the bank's claim, that the land purchase and their note had been procured by the bank's misrepresentations overstating the amount of land and mineral acres in the tract, and falsely stating that there were no outstanding mineral leases on the property. No references to the alleged representations appeared in the documents executed by petitioners, in the bank's records, or in the minutes of the bank's board of directors or loan committee. While the suit was pending, a Louisiana official closed the bank because of its unsound condition and appointed the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC ultimately acquired petitioners' note and was substituted as a plaintiff in this lawsuit. The District Court granted summary judgment for the FDIC, and the Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the word "agreement" in a provision of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act of 1950, 12 U.S.C. § 1823(e), encompassed the kinds of material terms or warranties asserted by petitioners in their misrepresentation defense and, because § 1823(e)'s requirements were not met, the defense was barred. Section 1823(e) provides that no "agreement" tending to diminish or defeat the FDIC's "right, title or interest" in any asset acquired by the FDIC under the section shall be valid against the FDIC unless it shall have been (1) in writing, (2) executed contemporaneously with the bank's acquisition of the asset, (3) approved by the bank's board of directors or loan committee and reflected in the minutes of the board or committee, and (4) continuously, from the time of its execution, an official record of the bank.
Held: A condition to payment of a note, including the truth of an express warranty, is part of the "agreement" to which the requirements of § 1823(e) attach. Because the representations alleged by petitioners constituted such a condition and did not meet the statute's requirements, they cannot be asserted as a defense here. Pp. 90-96.
(a) The word "agreement" in § 1823(e) is not limited to an express promise to perform an act in the future. The essence of petitioners' defense is that the bank made certain warranties regarding the land, the truth of which was a condition to performance of their obligation to repay the loan. As used in commercial and contract law, the term "agreement" often has a wider meaning than a promise, and embraces such a condition upon performance. This common meaning of the word "agreement" must be assigned to its usage in § 1823(e) if that section is to fulfill its intended purposes of allowing federal and state bank examiners to rely on a bank's records in evaluating the bank's assets, ensuring mature consideration of unusual loan transactions by senior bank officials, and preventing fraudulent insertion of new terms, with the collusion of bank employees, when a bank appears headed for failure. Cf. D'Oench, Duhme & Co. v. FDIC, 315 U.S. 447, 62 S.Ct. 676, 86 L.Ed. 956. Pp. 90-93.
(b) There is no merit to petitioners' argument that even if a misrepresentation concerning an existing fact can sometimes constitute an agreement covered by § 1823(e), it at least does not do so when the misrepresentation was fraudulent and the FDIC had knowledge of the asserted defense when it acquired the note. Neither fraud in the inducement nor the FDIC's knowledge thereof is relevant to the section's application. No conceivable reading of the word "agreement" in § 1823(e) could cause it to cover a representation or warranty that is bona fide but to exclude one that is fraudulent. The bank's alleged misrepresentations here did not constitute fraud in the factum, which would render the note void and take it out of § 1823(e), but instead constituted only fraud in the inducement, which rendered the note voidable but not void. The bank therefore had and could transfer to the FDIC voidable title, which was enough to constitute "title or interest" in the note for the purpose of § 1823(e). Even if this Court had the power to engraft an equitable exception upon the statute's plain terms, the equities petitioners invoke are not the equities the statute regards as predominant. Pp. 93-96.
792 F.2d 541 (CA5 1986), affirmed.
SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
William C. Shockey, Baton Rouge, La., for petitioners.
Richard G. Taranto, New Haven, Conn., for respondent.
Justice SCALIA delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioners W.T. and Maryanne Grimes Langley seek reversal of a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granting the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) summary judgment on its claim for payment of a promissory note signed by petitioners. 792 F.2d 541 (1986). The Fifth Circuit rejected petitioners' contention that a defense of misrepresentation of existing facts is not barred by 12 U.S.C. § 1823(e) because such a representation is not an "agreement" under that section. We granted certiorari to resolve a conflict in the Courts of Appeals. 479 U.S. 1028, 107 S.Ct. 871, 93 L.Ed.2d 826 (1987). Compare Gunter v. Hutcheson, 674 F.2d 862, 867 (CA11), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 826, 103 S.Ct. 60, 74 L.Ed.2d 63 (1982); FDIC v. Hatmaker, 756 F.2d 34, 37 (CA6 1985) (dictum).
* The Langleys purchased land in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, in 1980. To finance the purchase, they borrowed $450,000 from Planters Trust & Savings Bank of Opelousas, Louisiana, a bank insured by the FDIC. In consideration for the loan, they executed a note, a collateral mortgage, and personal guarantees. The note was renewed several times, the last renewal being in March 1982, for the principal amount of $468,124.41.
In October 1983, after the Langleys had failed to pay the first installment due on the last renewal of the note, Planters brought the present suit for principal and interest in a Louisiana state trial court. The Langleys removed the suit, on grounds of diversity, to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, where it was consolidated with a suit by the Langleys seeking more than $5 million in damages from Planters and others. The Langleys alleged as one of the grounds of complaint in their own suit, and as a defense against Planters' claim in the present suit, that the 1980 land purchase and the notes had been procured by misrepresentations. In particular, they alleged that the notes had been procured by the bank's misrepresentations that the property conveyed in the land purchase consisted of 1,628.4 acres, when in fact it consisted of only 1,522, that the property included 400 mineral acres, when in fact it contained only 75, and that there were no outstanding mineral leases on the property, when in fact there were.1 No reference to these representations appears in the documents executed by the Langleys, in the bank's records, or in the minutes of the bank's board of directors or loan committee.
In April 1984, the FDIC conducted an examination of Planters during which it learned of the substance of the lawsuits with the Langleys, including the allegations of Planters' misrepresentations. On May 18, 1984, the Commissioner of Financial Institutions for the State of Louisiana closed Planters because of its unsound condition and appointed the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC thereupon undertook the financing of a purchase and assumption transaction pursuant to 12 U.S.C. § 1823(c)(2), in which all the deposit liabilities and most of the assets of Planters were assumed by another FDIC-insured bank in the community. Because the amount of the liabilities greatly exceeded the value of the assets, the FDIC paid the assuming bank $36,992,000, in consideration for which the FDIC received, inter alia, the Langleys' March 1982 note.
In October 1984, the FDIC was substituted as a plaintiff in this lawsuit, and moved for summary judgment on its claim. The District Court granted the motion, 615 F.Supp. 749 (WD La.1985), and was sustained on appeal. The Fifth Circuit held that the word "agreement" in 12 U.S.C. § 1823(e) encompassed the kinds of material terms or warranties asserted by the Langleys in their misrepresentation defenses and, because the requirements of § 1823(e) were not met, those defenses were barred. 792 F.2d, at 545-546. We granted the Langleys' petition for certiorari on the issue whether, in an action brought by the FDIC in its corporate capacity for payment of a note, § 1823(e) bars the defense that the note was procured by fraud in the inducement even when the fraud did not take the form of an express promise.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Act of 1950, § 13(e), 64 Stat. 889, as amended, 12 U.S.C. § 1823(e), provides:
"No agreement which tends to diminish or defeat the right, title or interest of the Corporation [FDIC] in any asset acquired by it under this section, either as security for a loan or by purchase, shall be valid against the Corporation unless such agreement (1) shall be in writing, (2) shall have been executed by the bank and the person or persons claiming an adverse interest thereunder, including the obligor, contemporaneously with the acquisition of the asset by the bank, (3) shall have been approved by the board of directors of the bank or its loan committee, which approval shall be reflected in the minutes of said board or committee, and (4) shall have been, continuously,from the time of its execution, an official record of the bank."
Petitioners' principal contention is that the word "agreement" in the foregoing provision encompasses only an express promise to perform an act in the future. We do not agree.
As a matter of contractual analysis, the essence of petitioners' defense against the note is that the bank made certain warranties regarding the land, the truthfulness of which was a condition to performance of their obligation to repay the loan. See 1 A. Corbin, Contracts § 14, p. 31 (1963) ("[T]ruth [of the warranty] is a condition precedent to the duty of the other party"); accord, 5 S. Williston, Contracts § 673, pp. 168-171 (3d ed. 1961); J. Murray, Contracts § 136, pp. 275-276 (2d rev. ed. 1974). As used in commercial and contract law, the term "agreement" often has "a wider meaning than . . . promise," Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 3, Comment a (1981), and embraces such a condition upon performance. The Uniform Commercial Code, for example, defines agreement as "the bargain of the parties in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances. . . ." U.C.C. § 1-201(3), 1 U.L.A. 44 (1976). Quite obviously, the parties' bargain cannot be reflected without including the conditions upon their performance, one of the two principal elements of which contracts are constructed. Cf. E. Farnsworth, Contracts § 8.2, p. 537 (1982) ("[P]romises, which impose duties, and conditions, which make duties conditional, are the main components of agreements"). It seems to us that this common meaning of the word "agreement" must be assigned to its usage in § 1823(e) if that section is to fulfill its intended purposes.
One purpose of § 1823(e) is to allow federal and state bank examiners to rely on a bank's records in evaluating the worth of the bank's assets. Such evaluations are necessary when a bank is examined for fiscal soundness by state or federal authorities, see 12 U.S.C. §§ 1817(a)(2), 1820(b), and when the FDIC is deciding whether to liquidate a failed bank, see § 1821(d), or to provide financing for purchase of its assets (and assumption of its liabilities) by another bank, see §§ 1823(c)(2), (c)(4)(A). The last kind of evaluation, in particular, must be made "with great speed, usually overnight, in order to preserve the going concern value of the failed bank and avoid an interruption in banking services." Gunter v. Hutcheson, 674 F.2d, at 865. Neither the FDIC nor state banking authorities would be able to make reliable evaluations if bank records contained seemingly unqualified notes that are in fact subject to undisclosed conditions.
A second purpose of § 1823(e) is implicit in its requirement that the "agreement" not merely be on file in the bank's records at the time of an examination, but also have been executed and become a bank record "contemporaneously" with the making of the note and have been approved by officially recorded action of the bank's board or loan committee. These latter requirements ensure mature consideration of unusual loan transactions by senior bank officials, and prevent fraudulent insertion of new terms, with the collusion of bank employees, when a bank appears headed for failure. Neither purpose can be adequately fulfilled if an element of a loan agreement so fundamental as a condition upon the obligation to repay is excluded from the meaning of "agreement."
That "agreement" in § 1823(e) covers more than promises to perform acts in the future is confirmed by examination of the leading case in this area prior to enactment of § 1823(e) in 1950. In D'Oench, Duhme & Co. v. FDIC, 315 U.S. 447, 62 S.Ct. 676, 86 L.Ed. 956 (1942), the FDIC acquired a note in a purchase and assumption transaction. The maker asserted a defense of failure of consideration (that is, the failure to perform a promise that was acondition precedent to the maker's performance), based on an undisclosed agreement between it and the failed bank that the note would not be called for payment. The Court held that this "secret agreement" could not be a defense to suit by the FDIC because it would tend to deceive the banking authorities. Id., at 460, 62 S.Ct., at 681. The Court stated that when the maker "lent himself to a scheme or arrangement whereby the banking authority . . . was likely to be misled," that scheme or arrangement could not be the basis for a defense against the FDIC. Ibid. (emphasis added). We can safely assume that Congress did not mean "agreement" in § 1823(e) to be interpreted so much more narrowly than its permissible meaning as to disserve the principle of the leading case applying that term to FDIC-acquired notes. Certainly, one who signs a facially unqualified note subject to an unwritten and unrecorded condition upon its repayment has lent himself to a scheme or arrangement that is likely to mislead the banking authorities, whether the condition consists of performance of a counterpromise (as in D'Oench, Duhme ) or of the truthfulness of a warranted fact.
Petitioners' fallback position is that even if a misrepresentation concerning an existing fact can sometimes constitute an agreement covered by § 1823(e), it at least does not do so when the misrepresentation was fraudulent and the FDIC had knowledge of the asserted defense at the time it acquired the note. We conclude, however, that neither fraud in the inducement nor knowledge by the FDIC is relevant to the section's application.
No conceivable reading of the word "agreement" in § 1823(e) could cause it to cover a representation or warranty that is bona fide but to exclude one that is fraudulent. Petitioners effectively acknowledge this when they concede that the fraudulent nature of a promise would not cause it to lose its status as an "agreement". See supra, at 89, n. 1. The presence of fraud could be relevant, however, to another requirement of § 1823(e), namely, the requirement that the agreement in question "ten[d] to diminish or defeat the right, title or interest" of the FDIC in the asset.
Respondent conceded at oral argument that the real defense of fraud in the factum—that is, the sort of fraud that procures a party's signature to an instrument without knowledge of its true nature or contents, see U.C.C. § 3-305(2)(c), Comment 7, 2 U.L.A. 241 (1977)—would take the instrument out of § 1823(e), because it would render the instrument entirely void, see Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 163 and Comments a, c; Farnsworth § 4.10, at 235, thus leaving no "right, title or interest" that could be "diminish[ed] or defeat[ed]." See Tr. of Oral Arg. 24-25, 27-30. Petitioners have never contended, however, nor could they have successfully, that the alleged misrepresentations about acreage or mineral interests constituted fraud in the factum. It is clear that they would constitute only fraud in the inducement, which renders the note voidable but not void. See U.C.C. § 3-201(1), 2 U.L.A. 127; Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 163, Comment c; Farnsworth § 4.10, at 235-236. The bank therefore had and could transfer to the FDIC voidable title, which is enough to constitute "title or interest" in the note. This conclusion is not only textually compelled, but produces the only result in accord with the purposes of the statute. If voidable title were not an "interest" under § 1823(e), the FDIC would be subject not only to undisclosed fraud defenses but also to a wide range of other undisclosed defenses that make a contract voidable, such as certain kinds of mistakes and innocent but material misrepresentations. See Restatement (Second) of Contracts §§ 152-153, 164.
Finally, knowledge of the misrepresentation by the FDIC prior to its acquisition of the note is not relevant to whether § 1823(e) applies. Nothing in the text would support the suggestion that it is: An agreement is an agreement whether or not the FDIC knows of it; and a voidable interest is transferable whether or not the transferee knows of the misrepresentation or fraud that produces the voidability. See Farnsworth § 11.8, at 780-781; cf. U.C.C. § 3-201(1), 2 U.L.A. 127. Petitioners are really urging us to engraft an equitable exception upon the plain terms of the statute. Even if we had the power to do so, the equities petitioners invoke are not the equities the statute regards as predominant. While the borrower who has relied upon an erroneous or even fraudulent unrecorded representation has some claim to consideration, so do those who are harmed by his failure to protect himself by assuring that his agreement is approved and recorded in accordance with the statute. Harm to the FDIC (and those who rely upon the solvency of its fund) is not avoided by knowledge at the time of acquiring the note. The FDIC is an insurer of the bank, and is liable for the depositors' insured losses whether or not it decides to acquire the note. Cf. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(f). The harm to the FDIC caused by the failure to record occurs no later than the time at which it conducts its first bank examination that is unable to detect the unrecorded agreement and to prompt the invocation of available protective measures, including termination of the bank's deposit insurance. See § 1818 (1982 ed. and Supp. IV). Thus, insofar as the recording provision is concerned, the state of the FDIC's knowledge at that time is what is crucial. But as we discussed earlier, see supra, at 401, § 1823(e) is meant to ensure more than just the FDIC's ability to rely on bank records at the time of an examination or acquisition. The statutory requirements that an agreement be approved by the bank's board or loan committee and filed contemporaneously in the bank's records assure prudent consideration of the loan before it is made, and protect against collusive reconstruction of loan terms by bank officials and borrowers (whose interests may well coincide when a bank is about to fail). Knowledge by the FDIC could substitute for the latter protection only if it existed at the very moment the agreement was concluded, and could substitute for the former assurance not at all.
The short of the matter is that Congress opted for the certainty of the requirements set forth in § 1823(e). An agreement that meets them prevails even if the FDIC did not know of it; and an agreement that does not meet them fails even if the FDIC knew. It would be rewriting the statute to hold otherwise. Such a categorical recording scheme is of course not unusual. Under Article 9 of the U.C.C., for example, a filing secured creditor prevails even over those unrecorded security interests of which he was aware. See, e.g., Rockwell Int'l Credit Corp. v. Valley Bank, 109 Idaho 406, 408-409, 707 P.2d 517, 519-520 (Ct.App.1985); Bloom v. Hilty, 427 Pa. 463, 471, 234 A.2d 860, 863-864 (1967); 9 R. Anderson, Uniform Commercial Code § 9-312:74, p. 298 (3d ed. 1985); J. White & R. Summers, Uniform Commercial Code § 25-4, p. 1037 (2d ed. 1980).
* * *
A condition to payment of a note, including the truth of an express warranty, is part of the "agreement" to which the writing, approval, and filing requirements of 12 U.S.C. § 1823(e) attach. Because the representations alleged by petitioners constitute such a condition and did not meet the requirements of the statute, they cannot be asserted as defenses here. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is
The Langleys also alleged certain other misrepresentations by Planters, including that the Langleys would have no personal liability on the notes, that Planters would provide another purchaser for the land as soon as the sale to the Langleys was closed, and that no payments would be due until the property was resold. The Langleys concede that 12 U.S.C. § 1823(e) bars these other misrepresentations from being asserted as defenses to FDIC's suit on the note because they were promissory in nature. Brief for Petitioners 12.


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Chicago (1/28/13) Belly, the ultimate customer loyalty and rewards program, launched Belly Bites, an exclusive new program that provides Belly members with samples at local businesses and helps merchants attract new loyal customers by offering just a taste of their product or service. In conjunction with the release of its new Android app and updated iPhone app, Belly has made it even easier to find new places to Belly all over town.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Anyone who makes a contribution of $20 or more will gain access to The Secret Production Blog on the making-of the film
Michel writes:
"I will use the Secret Production Blog to share what I learn, divulge my tricks and give a real insight into my process. I want to make this a great tool for animation students to see how I do things—sort of "a crash course in making a classically animated film". Hopefully, potential creators will be inspired to put that knowledge to use in their own future productions... and by the same token, help keep the art of 2D animation alive. I'm going to be learning a lot myself and sharing will make it all the more worthwhile.
If you know of any animation/art schools, students, or enthusiasts that would be interested in getting a real behind the scene look at this endeavor, please let them know and pass the link around. Once again, thank you all for your support!"


text:
We'll tell you the biggest reason: the 25-30 percent savings in mileage reimbursement costs. But there are plenty of others, such as accuracy, security, accounting and payroll integration, and reporting and analytics. Discover a better system to track mileage and reimburse expenses today.
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text:
Perhaps the greatest revelation in the post-Dad world is that, late at night on Christmas Eve, I get to *be*
Santa Claus. When The Little Girl leaves out cookies for Santa tonight, I get to be the one who eats most of them – leaving only trace crumbs to suggest that Santa had been there in her very house, breaking any number of property laws, in the name of bringing joy. It's pretty awesome. Ditto watching 'A Christmas Story' tonight, and reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' just before she goes to bed. And then spreading out the gifts, stuffing the stocking, curling up with The Wife by the lighted tree … I'm excited.
And, with that in mind, you're going to see limited posting from now through tomorrow (Christmas Day), resuming regular-ish posting on Wednesday (with a fresh podcast on Thursday). Christmas Day has become my informal/formal only day off of the year, so I'm going to take it with vigor. For the story on why taking the day off is special to me, here's last year's version of this post.
If news breaks, or if there's an exceedingly juicy rumor that simply can't wait, I suppose I'll drag myself out of a long Winter's nap to cover it. Otherwise, I'll see you on Wednesday.
A very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours. The holiday season is also the unofficial birthday of BN, having been formed over a few day period after Christmas back in 2008. So, happy fourth birthday, BN. Thanks to all of you for making this such a great place.


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Since its debut six years ago, TMZ has fed millions of fans a steady diet of celebrity news on its highly trafficked blog. There's also the TMZ TV show, syndicated on hundreds of stations. And now, for the truly TMZ obsessed, there's a TMZ Tour of Hollywood.
The traditional Hollywood tour has been around almost as long as Hollywood itself.
For decades, tourists have come here to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars — or at least a glimpse of where they eat.
TMZ promises a tour for those who care more about Bradley Cooper than Gary Cooper, for those who can't get enough of Kim Kardashian, The Situation, Paris Hilton or Britney Spears.
Everyone Wants To Be A Paparazzo
Everyday, as many as seven times a day, a seat on the TMZ Tour can be had for just $49 for adults, $39 for kids, and a few hours of your life.
The cost includes an enthusiastic guide, Keith Jordan, who could easily be mistaken for a drive-time radio host.
He's actually the most cliched of all Hollywood cliches: the struggling actor.
"We're gonna go out where the celebrities actually go to shop, where they party, where they play," Jordan promises.
The bus is equipped with video monitors that show a constant stream of TMZ video.
But that, you can easily get at home. A big selling point of the tour is that you will not only see a celebrity, but be involved in capturing footage of him or her for TMZ.
Everyone wants to be a paparazzo these days.
As we get under way, Jordan tells the half-empty bus to be on the lookout because we will be traveling through prime celebrity habitat.
"If we see anybody while we're on this tour I want you to shout at me," Jordan says.
He pulls out a tiny video camera, telling the passengers that with one click of a button he can instantly upload the video to TMZ.com, or if he captures something truly extraordinary, the video may end up on TMZ on TV.
Lohan Party Spot? Yes. First Academy Awards? No
The first stop on the tour is the iconic Roosevelt Hotel.
Jordan plays a video that points out this is home to one of Lindsay Lohan's favorite nightclubs and where the MTV show The Hills had its finale party.
The Roosevelt is also where the first Academy Awards were held in 1929, but no time to mention that on the TMZ Tour.
We're off to the El Pollo Loco fast-food restaurant where Brad Pitt used to work, then the comedy club where Michael Richards went on a racist rant, which of course TMZ posted for all the world to see.
Don't Ask To See TMZ Headquarters
The tour includes lots of information about TMZ, how it was the first to break the news of Michael Jackson's death, and how it was responsible for introducing the Kardashians to the world.
But one thing the tour doesn't do is point out TMZ headquarters, even though the bus drives right by it.
"We don't like to ballyhoo where we are," says TMZ founder Harvey Levin, during an interview in the TMZ newsroom, "There's no signage on our building, and we like to keep it that way."
TMZ has made Levin a minor celebrity. He famously gets up at 2:45 every morning to go to the gym, before hosting TMZ on TV, which tapes at 6:45.
He doesn't find it hypocritical that TMZ doesn't reveal its own location.
"We have trade secrets," Levin says. "This is a working, functioning newsroom and we don't want it to become a tourist trap where people are coming by the window all the time."
Levin said the businesses welcome the tour bus, "because it's business for them."
Levin says he has been obsessed with starting a tour for years.
"I drive all over L.A., and every time, I look and see all these places that TMZ made famous," Levin says. "It just seemed to me that these old-line, stodgy Hollywood tours that let people know what was happening in the 1920s in Hollywood ... we could do a tour about what's happening now and who people care about now."
He says the goal of TMZ is never to be mean, but rather just to have more fun — and be less staged — than traditional celebrity news outlets like People or Entertainment Tonight.
On particularly dull stretches of the tour there is a game where passengers guess whether a celebrity smiled at the camera, or held up the middle finger.
Still, Levin argues virtually everyone he puts on TMZ wants to be there.
"This is a city that's all about selling tickets," Levin says. "It's all about 'Keep me relevant, make my song relevant, make sure people watch my show.' "
At Last, A Tug On The Line
We're coming to the end of our two-hour voyage and despite the tour guide's best efforts to keep everyone upbeat, it has felt like a fishing trip where you don't catch any fish.
Not a single celebrity has been seen, not even a D-lister.
But then, a tug on the line.
Jordan spots actor Ryan Phillippe getting into his car, and immediately the guide springs into action.
He orders the driver to stop in the middle of the road, which not only boxes Phillippe in, but stops traffic behind us as well.
Jordan then leaps out of the bus with his camera and tries to get Phillippe to roll down his window.
"Ryan, there's no way out," Jordan yells.
Somehow Phillippe spots an opening and speeds away.
For those watching from the bus it's a great show. They have quite a story to tell when they get home — and more important, the spectacle they just witnessed might end up on TMZ.
Still, passenger Alicia Moretto, visiting from Australia, was hoping for more.
"I wanted to see a lot more celebrities, but you really can't force them to come out," Moretto says.
Unfortunately TMZ still has not devised a way to force the famous out of hiding.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Although best known for being one of the drummers in seminal lo-fi outfit Pavement, Steve West has never been one to rest on his laurels as far as veering off and doing other things are concerned. His "other project", Marble Valley, first came to fruition almost three years before Pavement's dissolution, 1997's hard-to-find debut long player Sauckiehall Street an undiscovered gem in shambolic slouchrock. In between times, he has also been involved sporadically with that other Pavement-offshoot, Silver Jews, while occasionally coming back every now and then to record a new Marble Valley record as and when it suits.
Comprising six members in total - James Waudby, formerly of one-time Jeepster Records combo Salako and also with Horse Guards Parade plays guitar, Carl Hogarth (Concrete Breaks, Baby Mammoth) plays keyboards, Andy Dimmock (Baby Mammoth, The Misshapen Lodge) bangs the drums, ex-Pavement sound engineer Remko Schouten also plays keyboards and various other techno apparatus, while the mysteriously named Beige is on bass. West, unlike his other outfits, takes centre stage as vocalist and songwriter in chief.
Last autumn saw the band release their fourth - and arguably finest - collection of work to date, the excellent Slash & Laugh, and they've recently just completed only their third European tour to receptive, enthusiastic and more-often-than-not, sold-out crowds. DiS caught up with the band post-soundcheck before their recent show at Nottingham's Chameleon venue...
DiS: This is your first UK tour for three years. How has it gone so far?
Steve West: Really great. I mean, the last time we were over was 2006 opening for Silver Jews, so technically people weren't there to see us but this time we've been overwhelmed.
It's also been a similar length of time between your last album, 2006's Wild Yams, and your current record, Slash & Laugh. How long did your new record take to write and record?
Steve West: Remko (Schouten) is based in Amsterdam, and so we went to his studio for about 3-4 days in 2007 and recorded a bunch of songs. I brought some stuff to the sessions and the guys added their parts to it and they had jam songs that were recorded and I took them back to my place in Virginia, sliced them up with some of the other bits and wrote more songs. That part of the process took me around six months as I had to fiddle around with everything and second guess where the songs needed to go and then it was a case of trying to find a label to put the record out. It was all kind of slow moving but, its out...
James Waudby: It took about a year and a half from start to finish but it was all worth it in the end.
Video: Marble Valley 'Duche Dog E Dog'
Were you ever really worried about finding a label to release the record for you?
Steve West: Yeah, I guess we were for a while. We had a label who were interested - Indikator Records who put our last record out - and then Sea Records came along, and wanted to re-release Wild Yams around Europe, and they were also on-board with this one, so that was nice and Matador distributed a few of them, and we did try to shop it around for bigger labels for a while, but we didn't get any offers, so decided to stay with Sea.
Have Sea been quite supportive in terms of promoting both the record and the subsequent tour?
Steve West: They've been overly supportive. This tour was pretty much put together by the guys at Sea, as they knew the right kind of promoters to approach and so far, they've been pretty much spot on judging by the way this tour has gone.
Have the label financed the tour or did you guys have to sort that side out?
James Waudby: It has pretty much paid for itself to be honest.
Steve West: Pretty much, yeah. Remko owes me some money for his flights....!
James Waudby: The way it comes out on paper is that everything pays for itself...except for the beer and the food...
Steve West: ...and we drink a lottttttta beer!
So it's been two weeks of catching up with old friends and getting pretty smashed then...
Steve West: Yeah, I guess, although some of us don't like to get too hammered. I like to feel reasonably OK the next day. There is a lot of debauchery in this band though...old school style, good guy stuff, not a lot of perversion or anything! It's been a lot of fun, nobody's died.
You probably get asked this question every day of your life at some point, but the rumour mill has once again been in overdrive with speculation of Pavement reforming. What's your take on them and what would be the chances of that happening as far as you see it?
Steve West: I think the possibility of that happening is something that crosses everybody's minds at least once a day. It crossed my mind when I was digging ditches to make a living that's for sure. I was working for this guy who played the same Grateful Dead album over and over again every day, and I remember thinking to myself that no matter how painful it may be for Pavement to get back together it could never be as painful as this! Bob (Nastanovich) had his wedding about a month ago and there was a lot of whispering. I guess the general feeling is that if people really love the music, and there's a want for it then why not? It is up to Stephen (Malkmus) though at the end of the day. I think he wants to put out another record and then maybe he'll be ready to move on and do something like that? I guess I'm not really in a position to say. I think everyone else would love to get together and play a few shows but...
If it were to happen - and that's a big IF - do you ever see yourselves writing new material together again?
Steve West: No, I don't think that will ever happen. I do remember one of the last band meetings we had and we said we'd maybe do some shows together in the future but we'd never record together as Pavement again. I guess when you look at a lot of cool bands who've gone away for a period of time and then got back together they don't try and top their previous recorded output - My Bloody Valentine for instance. It's like, you've had your time, you've had your decade or whatever it was, and to try to put yourself back in that mould and be young again is really hard to pull off. I don't think I can name any band that's done it well. Once you reach that pinnacle and then stop for a long period of time its hard to get it back. What I would like to think is that if we did get back together and play live again, the shows would have that unpredictable feel to them. There was always that sloppiness, that what's-going-to-happen-tonight-? persona around us, that I think would be vital for any live reformation in the future. It all comes down to the personalities within the band, and I honestly think that's why Pavement are held in such high esteem today.
You've also been playing drums in Silver Jews, but it seems there's a bit of a hiatus going on there too.
Steve West: About a month or two ago, David (Berman) said the band Silver Jews was done. I'm not sure if I really believe him - I mean, he wants to write a book and he's one of those people that will cut off what he's doing at a certain point and start a whole new thing, and then go back to what he was doing beforehand later. To say the Silver Jews are no more - I doubt it, as its gone really well and David is a really creative person and like Pavement, I can see Silver Jews growing slowly to a similar level over time. I think the stuff David has written is way ahead of its time. The biggest struggle for David has been the live aspect, transforming his songwriting into a live environment. He's always worried about his voice and whether it sounds as good live as it does on record. I mean, I know I'm not the greatest singer in the world either but I love being on stage entertaining people. Everyone is different I guess, and David was always insecure about the live shows. Personally I always thought he was brilliant, and to be onstage playing with him is always a pleasure, a wonderful experience.
For the rest of the band, how do you feel that people always talk about Marble Valley as being "ex-Pavement drummer Steve West's band"? Do you sometimes feel undermined by comments like this?
James Waudby: I don't know, I've never thought about it like that really. I mean, it is Steve's band to all extents; he started Marble Valley, he writes the bulk of the songs. We just enjoy getting together and playing. I mean, its not like we're a bunch of hired hands just starting out. We've all been in and in some cases are currently in other bands, so we know what the industry is all about. No one is hung up on the fact we're often perceived as being members of Steve's band.
Remko Schouten: There are no egos in this band...
Steve West: When all's said and done, I'm the most talentless person in a very talented band.
You're all based in different parts of the world. How did you all get together in the first place?
Steve West: I live in Virginia, Remko and Beige in Amsterdam...
James Waudby: ...whereas me, Andy and Carl live in Hull.
Steve West: We started playing together as a result of Andy and Remko's involvement with Pavement. Andy was our guitar tech and Remko was sound engineer, and I'd just started writing songs. We loved hanging out together and at the time, Pavement weren't getting along that well.
James Waudby: My old band, Salako, had supported Pavement on their last tour, and we kept in touch so when Steve asked if I'd like to play with this new project of his I jumped at the chance.
Steve West: To be fair, Andy helped to put it all together with the people he knew like Carl and James both being from Hull as well.
The fact you're all from different countries with different backgrounds is evident in the music, particularly on 'Slash & Laugh'. At times there's a hint of Super Furry Animals-style eclectic psychedelia, others, like 'Hip Hick Hop' for example, a more alt-country Americana vibe.
Steve West: I live in area of Virginia where bluegrass music is hugely popular, and no one knows who Pavement is or has any idea about rock music in general, so I wanted to take some of that old-time bluegrass feel and translate that into a more modern sound. The lyrics "Everybody come and dance with me" are I guess about them going out and getting fucked up too; I mean, they're as rock and roll as I am in their own way. They're more punk too, as they play that shit real, real fast, and they're really hardcore about it.
What about 'Shaven Advark'?
Steve West: The story behind that one is that the other guys jammed it and sent it to me, and I thought it was so brilliant that it didn't need vocals but it did need a title, and Carl woke up one morning and Remko's cat was on his chest, except he didn't think it was a cat he thought it was a shaved aardvark!
The album's climax, 'A Ghost Of A Thousand Tours', is possibly the most melancholy - and shortest - moment on the record. How did this song come about?
Steve West: When I make records, I try and create a party atmosphere for the most of it and then towards the end when you're a little drunk and tipsy and you're trying to get to sleep, I like to bring the mood down a little. When we recorded that, Andy was actually trying to tune a guitar and he ended up playing this ditty and I was shouting at Remko "Record that, Remko! Record that!" and then Carl started playing as well and we put it all together. The title is basically about Andy, because he's been around the world touring for so many years with so many different bands that it pretty much sums him up.
Despite Slash & Laugh being your fourth album in over a decade, in many people's eyes Marble Valley are still seen as a new band. Are there any other bands you think we should be looking out for that maybe haven't had the recognition they deserve so far?
Steve West: I'm a big fan of The Phantom Band. They might be big already over here, I dunno, but they're awesome.
Marble Valley will be returning to the UK in October. In the meantime, for more information on the band visit their Official Website and MySpace.


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Judge Rules New Jersey Must Allow Gay Marriage [POLL]
A New Jersey judge has ruled that the state must allow same-sex couples to marry and Governor Chris Christie says he will appeal.
In a 53 page summary judgment issued Friday, Judge Mary Jacobson, the top judge in Mercer County, says in an emergency ruling that because the federal government recognizes gay marriages, not doing so in New Jersey would violate the state constitution.
Jacobson also concluded that New Jersey's stand "is currently harming same-sex couples in New Jersey in a wide range of contexts" including the ability to receive certain federal benefits.
In a statement, Christie's press secretary Mike Drewniak said, "Governor Christie has always maintained that he would abide by the will of the voters on the issue of marriage equality and called for it to be on the ballot this Election Day. Since the legislature refused to allow the people to decide expeditiously, we will let the Supreme Court make this constitutional determination."
Christie was attending a ground breaking at the College of New Jersey in Ewing when news of the ruling broke but would not take questions about it.
The judge's order says marriages can begin on October 21. The Christie Administration, which has favored the issue being put to a ballot vote, is expected to appeal the decision. The appeal would be to an intermediate court and then the state Supreme Court.
"A Historic Day"
Garden State Equality, which brought the case to court on behalf of six couples, said that that while "there is still work to be done...this is a historic day" on their Facebook page posted. The organization will hold a rally at 7 p.m. tonight at their Montclair office.
Marcye Nicholson-McFadden, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said she and her partner of 24 years, Karen Nicholson-McFadden, are trying to absorb the news. "I want to shout from the rooftops, but I just have to keep myself in check," Marcye Nicholson-McFadden, of Aberdeen, said
Democrat gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono called the judge's ruling a "tremendous victory for everyone who believes in equality." She said that Governor Chris Christie is "on the wrong side of history" and called for him to "stop blocking equal rights for all New Jerseyans."
Openly-gay Assemblyman Reed Guciora (D) tells Townsquare Media he is happy with the decision and hopes the governor does not appeal. Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) in a tweet said the ruling is "an important step forward for equality in New Jersey."
John Tomicki, president of the New Jersey Coalition To Preserve and Protect Marriage says this decision would never have been possible if it wasn't for a 2006 state Supreme Court decision. "The state of New Jersey at that time did not clearly delineate nor raise the issue of why natural marriage is important to a cultural and society and his different from a civil union." In 2006 the state Supreme Court ruled that gay couples can receive all the rights and benefits of marriage. It would be up to the state legislature whether to call it "marriage" or something else. Senate President Steve Sweeney, at the start of this legislative session, declared gay marriage to be his top priority and regretted not voting in favor of it at the end of the previous session.


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Part 90
Is it really a sacrifice?
OK M'DUDES, here's the deal. I've come to an abrupt (and last minute, I'm very sorry) decision concerning chapter 90 of Earthcast. I've decided to make it the VERY LAST chapter in the story, simply to stop it from dragging out for eons, and as such I won't be releasing it just yet until I wrap up all my loose ends.
Ok, so your next question is probably: when is that happening? The answer is….. I'm not completely sure. I've had a kind of last-minute trip scheduled for this week, making me unexpectedly busy, and there are various other little fun surprises happening to me right now. I hesitate to put on a deadline for the chapter yet not knowing what the heck my schedule is gonna look like for a while. But, I'd like to say it should happen within the month of January. Apologies for the lack of clarity.
I also want to say thank you so much to all my readers for sticking with me- I know that there have been way too many last minute chapter delays and schedule changes and whatnot recently. Without it getting too personal, part of this is an issue with mental health. Earthcast is a story that is very dear to me and is helping me through some of my worse periods, and I hope that it can be the same for many of you, my readers. I am forever grateful to all of those of you who stopped by to give my work a chance. What I write, I consider an extension of myself. When you guys tell me you enjoy it, it's the best, most affirming kind of compliment I can receive. Thank you all so much.
I'll be taking a break for the winter holidays! Earthcast will return on Monday, January 2nd TUESDAY, JANUARY 3RD.
Hello, it's your main dude Koryos here- I was really, REALLY hoping I would have the chapter finished by Monday, but that is not going to happen. It is honestly really hard to say how much writing I am going to get done in this holiday kerfuffle.
I am going to shoot for a chapter to go up the Monday after Thanksgiving (that's 11/28). Hoping to resume a normal schedule after that… I really hate doing more delays at this point because we are so tantalizingly close to the end of this nearly 400,000-word narrative. I think you guys are gonna like the ending. Just stay with me a little longer and we'll straggle on through, folks!


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Information current as of: 4/9/2020
As more information becomes available, this resource page will be updated.
Q: Is Mountain West Financial open?
A: Yes! While we are abiding by all shelter in place mandates as well as taking actions on precautionary measures and social distancing, we are open and excited to continue our mission of making homeownership a reality!
For years, we have prided ourselves on our excellent technology platform that has allowed us to have MWF Team Members deployed and working remotely. We have expanded these time-tested methods to much of our team and locations.
Q: Is now a good time to refinance or purchase a home?
A: Rates are still at an all time loan if you are looking to refinance your home or to purchase a new home. We have digital technology tools set up that allow us to complete your mortgage process securely and electronically.
Q: How do I apply for a home loan?
A: Visit your local Loan Officer's website, and select the "Apply Now" button on their page. This will take you through our secure online application that includes the ability to securely upload documents, and link available employment, and banking information. We facilitate many of the required loan documents through an e-signing process to give you a fully digital experience.
If you are not currently working with a Mountain West Financial Loan Officer, click here to complete an online application and we will help locate the loan officer nearest to you.
Q: I have a hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic – who should I talk to about my mortgage payment?
A: Please call our Customer Care line at (877) 841-0497 and one of our team members will be happy to review your personal situation and advise you on your options, our servicing and payment center has also been updated with current information regarding options available during this time, please log in to https://mwf.servicingdivision.com for more information. We are here to help! It is imparative that you speak with someone in our Customer Care team before skipping a mortgage payment so we can ensure no unintended late fees are incurred and no mortgage lates are reported on your credit report.
Q: What is the forbearance process if I am unable to make my mortgage payment due to COVID-19?
A: If you're currently unable to make your payment due to COVID-19, you can apply for forbearance to pause your payments. You must contact the customer care team for full details and to discuss your specific options. We have included as example of the process below:
- Heather Homeowner - $1,200 Monthly Mortgage Payment Due April 1st.
- Apply for a mortgage loan forbearance through loan servicer (not all forbearance application will be approved).
- If 3 Month forbearance is approved, no payment is due April, May, or June until July 1st.
- July 1st Payment - $4,800 total due. Forbearance payments from April-June ($3,600) + July's monthly payment ($1,200) are ALL due.
Q: Is Mountain West Financial abiding by the temporary ban on foreclosures and evictions?
A: Yes, we are ensuring that we abide by all rules and regulations, whether permanent or temporary.
Q: I have an inspection scheduled with an appraiser, but due to the ongoing concerns with the Coronavirus, I don't feel comfortable with someone inside my home, do I have options?
A: We may be able to offer alternative appraisal types based off the loan program type, contact your Mountain West Financial Loan Officer with these concerns to see what options are available to you.
Q: I am/was in forbearance and would like to refinance or purchase a new home. What are my options?
A: Timelines for applying for a refinance or a new home purchase may vary depending on your situation
- If you requested forbearance and continued to make payments, or made a lump sum payment to bring your mortgage current once the forbearance period ended, you would be eligible immediately to apply for a home loan.
- Homeowners who entered into a loss mitigation solution - such as a repayment plan, payment deferral, or loan modifications are eligible to apply for a new home loan (purchase or refinance) after three timely payments.
We are here to support you! If you have any questions that were not addressed, please email your questions to [email protected].


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25 charged in $100 million mortgage fraud
Manhattan District Attorney charges 13 suspects and a mortgage company with fraud; 12 others have already pleaded guilty.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Manhattan district attorney indicted 13 suspects and a mortgage company on Wednesday for running a $100 million mortgage fraud, in which they allegedly fooled banks into financing sham sales.
District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said that 25 people were involved in the scheme including 12 who have already pleaded guilty.
The 13 newly-indicted individuals and the mortgage company, AFG Financial Group, were charged with enterprise corruption, grand larceny, scheme to defraud and conspiracy for participating in 19 fraudulent real estate transactions, according to the D.A.'s office. The most serious felony, enterprise corruption, carries a sentence of up to 25 years.
The suspects included Aaron Hand, Eugene Culbreath and Eric Shields, all founders of AFG, which is based in Garden City, Long Island. The D.A.'s office said that Hand, the company president, "ultimately controlled the criminal enterprise."
Lawyers for Hand and Culbreath were not immediately available.
The D.A.'s office said the following banks were ripped off over a four-year period, ending in April: Countrywide, New Century Bank, Saxon Bank, Greenpoint Bank, ABC Bank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and SunTrust. Some of the defendants were bank employees, according to the D.A.
"The conspirators caused the banks to front millions of dollars to finance purchases of the properties," read a statement from the D.A.'s office. "They then walked away with most of the cash, leaving behind over-valued properties and worthless mortgage papers."
The D.A.'s office described a "particularly brazen sham transaction" where one of the suspects, Stephen Martini, allegedly wrote up a bogus appraisal of $500,000 for a two-family home, but "in reality, the location was a vacant lot."


text: On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 01:47:02PM -0400, Robert G. Brown wrote: > > On Mon, 21 Jul 2008, Joe Landman wrote: > > > This is the sad truth. I can survive without using emacs, and besides, > I can use it in an emergency. But nobody can manage systems without > knowing vi. You may use it only long enough to edit /etc/hosts and your > firewall and your yum repo data so you can install and rebuild jove, but > that much cannot be avoided... This, I find, is a strong dividing line. By and large (not with exclusivity, but IME there is certainly a trend) systems programmers use vi and applications programmers use emacs. Systems programmers spend far to much time just getting in and out to make quick fixes to things -- and for that matter spend far too much time working with broken machines -- to ever allow themselves to become dependant on anything with as much overhead as Emacs. Some of them will master both, and use Emacs for scripting and such. But most that I've known just never bother with it. > Speaking personally, I'd rather burn off my pre-cancerous old-age spots > with a wood-burning kit than use vi for more than two minutes at a time > ("... only long enough..." see above) but to each their own, I suppose. See, I cut my teeth [1] on a Sun 2/120 with a multibus SCSI adapter, with a 71MB hard drive and a QIC tape drive. This was running SunOS 1.1 (cf. BSD 4.1), and I can assure you that it didn't have no stinkin' Emacs; Bill Joy ran the OS development for Sun and anyway, James Gosling's Unix/C port of Emacs was just starting to make the rounds [2]. The only real choices were ed, ex and vi -- vi of course being a mode you entered from ex, which still was important and a vast improvement over ed. By the time there were any other reasonable editors available to me, the vi command set had moved down into my brain stem. The only command I ever mastered in Emacs was <Ctrl-x><Ctrl-c>. FWIW, with vi being so cryptic and Emacs being even worse, for a while we supported the Rand Editor -- in particular e19 [3]. Now there was an editor for the masses -- virtually the whole thing was driven by function keys. --Bob [1] Unix teeth, that is. The first machine I programmed -- with punchcards -- was an IBM 1130... [2] We did at one point buy some licenses for Unipress Emacs (the commercialized version of Gosling Emacs), but only a few hardy souls ever forced themselves to make use of it. [3] http://www.rand.org/pubs/notes/N2239-1/ http://perrioll.web.cern.ch/perrioll/Rand_Editor/Linux/ http://www.beowulf.org/archive/2001-April/002901.html


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Tim McGraw Shares Studio Photo
Tim McGraw is generous with photos of his handsome self on Twitter. A week after sharing a shirtless pic, showing off his buff chest and muscular arms, which generated quite a bit of chatter in the process, the singer tweeted a photo from the studio.
McGraw is working on his new album, which will mark his first for new label Big Machine after a bitter, public feud and not-so-amicable split with his former record company Curb.
The image is simple but it makes a point. McGraw is perched behind a microphone, looking straight ahead while wearing headphones. He's doing what he does best and that's make music. It was a great way for the country superstar to get people excited about his next effort, which marks a whole new chapter in his already successful career.
McGraw is a busy man. In addition to working on his tight and toned body, as evidenced by last week's photo, and touring with his pal Kenny Chesney on the Brothers of the Sun trek, he is preparing his new album. He's also a father and husband, so it leaves us with one very important question. When does Tim McGraw sleep? He's an Iron Man, that's for sure.
McGraw's studio tweet and photo are below.
In the studio, workin' on new record!!! twitter.com/TheTimMcGraw/s…
— Tim McGraw (@TheTimMcGraw) June 23, 2012


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The light bulb, penicillin, mathematics, democracy, and porn. They're all important inventions, testaments to mankind's collective creativity and ingenuity. But none of them were ever as much fun as StarCraft. Well, maybe most of them. It's been about 12 years since the first StarCraft launched. The seminal title was a genre-defining game that cast a shadow over every RTS that followed in its massive footprints. But this week, StarCraft fans finally got the sequel they've been waiting over a decade for and it definitely doesn't disappoint.
The singleplayer campaign resumes where the StarCraft: Brood War expansion left off. Players take on the role of Jim Raynor, leader of Raynor's Raiders, a ragtag group of rebels railing against the unjust rule of Arcturus Mengsk, Emperor of the Terran Dominion. But Mengsk's autocratic rule is only the beginning of Raynor's problems.
The Zerg have also returned. Led by the Queen of Blades, the bug-like aliens are wreaking havoc across the galaxy, infesting Terran colonists as they search for a mysterious artifact. It doesn't help that Raynor still harbors heartfelt feelings for the the leader of the Zerg swarm. Before she sprouted demon-like wings and a thick layer of carapace armor, the Queen of Blades used to be Sarah Kerrigan, a Terran Ghost operative and close friend of Raynor.
Above: After a betrayal by Mengsk, Sarah Kerrigan was transformed into the Queen of Blades
Enter Zeratul, a Protoss Dark Templar and former ally of Raynor. The mysterious warrior leaves Raynor Raynor with a warning, suggesting that Sarah Kerrigan (aka the Queen of Blades), may be the only one able to save the galaxy from a threat far greater than the Zerg swarm.
With the corrupt and irresponsible Terran Dominion to topple, a galaxy-wide Zerg assault led by a lost love, and a mysterious prophecy foretelling the destruction of everything, Jim Raynor has a lot to deal with. But even if you aren't already caught up with the intricacies of the plot leading up to Wings of Liberty, it's still easy to settle into Wings of Liberty's new story arc. There's lots of expositional cutscenes to catch you up to speed, and they're all top-notch with the slick high-quality CG work Blizzard is famous for.
A ton of great RTS titles have released since StarCraft: Brood War, but despite all the great campaigns we've played since then, StarCraft II: Wing of Liberty still manages to make every mission feel exciting and fresh. Strangers to RTS titles shouldn't be daunted by StarCraft II. The singleplayer campaign eases newcomers into the game gracefully, but still offers interesting twists for RTS veterans with unique objectives and special scenarios.


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Federer, Serena in cruise control as teen duo rock US Open
NEW YORK - Agence France-Presse
Roger Federer, of Switzerland, waves to the crowd after defeating Marinko Matosevic, of Australia, in the first round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014, in New York. AP Photo
Five-time champions Roger Federer and Serena Williams reached the US Open second round on Tuesday, but found themselves sharing the headlines with teenage upstarts CiCi Bellis and Borna Coric.Federer claimed his 50th win of 2014 as the 17-time major winner, playing in his 60th successive Grand Slam and bidding to become the oldest major winner in over 40 years, defeated Australia's Marinko Matosevic 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) to register his 23rd win in 24 night matches in New York.
"It was a bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be in the third set. Marinko has a big game," said second seeded Federer who hit 10 aces and 41 winners and was cheered on by basketball legend Michael Jordan.
Federer will face another Australian, big-serving Sam Groth, for a place in the last 32 as he continues his bid for a record sixth US Open but first since 2008.
Women's world number one Williams, the double defending champion who is also seeking a sixth title, was equally untroubled, defeating 18-year-old compatriot Taylor Townsend, 6-3, 6-1 in just 55 minutes.
Williams, like Federer, a 17-time major winner, has failed to make it past the fourth round at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon this year.
"This was the first Slam I ever won. I love coming out to play -- I never want it to stop," said Williams, who was dressed in a leopard-print dress for the occasion and next tackles compatriot Vania King.
When the world number one won her first US Open in 1999, CiCi Bellis wasn't even five months old.
But on Tuesday Bellis, ranked at a lowly 1,208 and aged just 15, knocked out Australian Open runner-up, Dominika Cibulkova, the 12th seed, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to become the youngest player to win a match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996.
"I went into the match thinking it was going to be such a great experience, but I never thought I would come out on top winning," said Bellis who, as an amateur, had to pass up the $60,000 prize money to avoid jeopardising a college sports career.
Coric, the 17-year-old world number 204 who was junior champion in 2013, also made a stunning Grand Slam debut with a convincing 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win over 29th-seeded Czech Lukas Rosol, the man who dumped Rafael Nadal out of Wimbledon two years ago.
The upset put Coric into a second-round clash with history-making Victor Estrella Burgos, the Dominican Republic's first Grand Slam participant who is making his US Open debut at 34.
"It's an amazing feeling," said qualifier Coric, who arrived in New York with the goal of making it into the main draw. "I said to myself, 'If I achieve that, that's going to be perfect'."
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova breezed into the second round with a 6-1, 6-0 rout of French number 73 Kristina Mladenovic.
The third-seeded Czech didn't surrender a service break in the 54-minute contest, breaking Mladenovic five times.
Canadian seventh seed Eugenie Bouchard, the Wimbledon runner-up, eased past Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-2, 6-1, slamming the brakes on her post-All England Club final slump which had brought her just one win coming into New York.
Bouchard is one of four Canadians in the main draw this year, the most since 1989 and is aiming to keep up her record of having made at least the semi-finals at all the majors in 2014.
Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, the eighth seed, eased past Alison Riske of the United States, 6-3, 6-0 in a tie which featured eight breaks of serve.
Australia's Samantha Stosur, the 2011 champion, went through with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Lauren Davies of the United States, firmly erasing the nightmare of her 2013 first round exit to US teenager Victoria Duval.
However, another former champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 winner was dumped out 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) by New Zealand's Marina Erakovic who won her first US Open match at the fifth time of asking.
Victoria Azarenka, the runner-up to Williams for the last two years, defeated Japan's Misaki Doi 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-1 as the 16th seed looks to resurrect a season wrecked by a left foot injury which restricted her to one event in six months in the first half of 2014.
Two-time men's semi-finalist David Ferrer, the Spanish fourth seed, was also a Tuesday winner, beating Bosnia's Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
America's top hope in the men's division, 13th seeded John Isner saw off compatriot Marcos Giron 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) as he bids to end the United States' 11-year wait for a men's Grand Slam title.


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The IPKat has come across a privacy case in which Max Mosley attempted to enjoin the News of the World from showing video footage of his allegedly Nazi-themed orgy with five prostitutes. The footage was posted on the News of the World's website at the end of March. It was then voluntarily taken down on 31 March, by which time other websites had copied and posted the footage. On 3 April the News of the World gave notice that it intended to repost the footage. Mosley applied to the court for an injunction to stop this.
According to Eady J, Mosley's Art.8 right to privacy was in conflict with the News of the World's Art.10 right to freedom of expression. In balancing the two, the court has to take the following into account:
i) No Convention right has, as such, precedence over another;
ii) Where conflict arises between the values safeguarded under Articles 8 and 10, an "intense focus" is necessary upon the comparative importance of the specific rights being claimed in the individual case;
iii) The Court must take into account the justification for interfering with or restricting each right;
iv) So too, the proportionality test must be applied to each
The information disclosed intrustive and demeaning to Mosley. However, the court had to consider two factors which could limit his right to privacy:
1. There was no public interest justification for revealing the edited video footage. The public was already aware of Mr Mosley's proclivities, and the pictures embodied in the video footage were only of interest because they were "mildly salacious and provide an opportunity to have a snigger at the expense of the participants".
Although there was a public interest in protecting the public from being misled by statements made by a claimant (in this case, the possibility that Mr Mosley was not telling the truth in denying that the S&M session has a Nazi theme), the News of the World could put the record straight without recourse to the video footage. In particular, the footage in question did not convincingly show that Mosley was lying.
2. However, there was no point in barring the News of the World from showing the material since the material was now widely available on the internet and anyone who wished to view the footage could easily do so. Either Mosley had lost his reasonable expectation of privacy because the information was so widely available, or the information has entered the public domain. In either case, the court had to avoid adopting the role of King Canute and making "vain gestures".
The judge summarised:
The IPKat is a tad puzzled by Eady J's approach. Although he states that no convention right takes precedence over another, he seems to proceed on the assumption that Mosley has a prima facie right to privacy which would need to be rebutted by free speech concerns. In other words, free speech seems to be being treated almost as a defence, rather than as a right of equal importance to privacy.


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Post-Tropical Cyclone EDOUARD
ZCZC MIATCDAT1 ALL TTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM POST-TROPICAL CYCLONE EDOUARD DISCUSSION NUMBER 34 NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL062014 500 PM AST FRI SEP 19 2014 Satellite imagery indicates that Edouard consists of a large but tight swirl of low-level clouds. Since the cyclone has been absent any deep convection for more than 12 hours, Edouard is being declared a post-tropical cyclone at this time. A blend of the 1800 UTC TAFB Dvorak CI and Final-T numbers suggests an initial intensity of 35 kt, which is in basic agreement with a morning ASCAT pass. Post-tropical cyclone Edouard should continue moving over cooler waters and in an environment of strong northwesterly wind shear. Thus, additional weakening is expected during the next day or so prior to Edouard becoming extratropical in about 36 hours when it merges with a front. Although the center of the cyclone jogged southeastward earlier this morning, it has since resumed an eastward motion at a faster forward speed or 090/06. Now a shallow feature, Edouard should accelerate eastward on the north side of a low-level ridge of high pressure during the next 24 hours. The track should then bend southeastward and southward around the flow associated with a mid-latitude cyclone over the northeastern Atlantic. The track forecast is basically an update of the previous one, only shifted slightly to the left to be in line with the TVCA multi-model consensus. This is the last advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center on Edouard. Additional information on this system can be found in High Seas Forecasts issued by the National Weather Service...under AWIPS header NFDHSFAT1 and WMO header FZNT01 KWBC. FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS INIT 19/2100Z 39.5N 37.5W 35 KT 40 MPH...POST-TROPICAL 12H 20/0600Z 39.4N 36.0W 30 KT 35 MPH...POST-TROPICAL 24H 20/1800Z 39.0N 33.6W 25 KT 30 MPH...POST-TROP/REMNT LOW 36H 21/0600Z 38.0N 31.5W 25 KT 30 MPH...POST-TROP/EXTRATROP 48H 21/1800Z 36.3N 30.0W 25 KT 30 MPH...POST-TROP/EXTRATROP 72H 22/1800Z...DISSIPATED $$ Forecaster Kimberlain/Huffman NNNN


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Like the signs outside a movie theater, the LED Lightbox Sign and Graphic are an eye-catching way to decorate, promote and inform. The 24" x 36" Lightbox Graphic Insert is printed on clear, vinyl film and is designed to be used with the LED Lightbox Sign, a frame-style box that provides bright, white illumination to the graphic. The Lightbox Sign is made of lightweight aluminum with a black finish and snap-open clips that makes changing the graphic easy. Display the LED Sign and graphic on a wall, hang from the ceiling or attach to an indoor banner stand with a special retrofit kit. Just plug it in!Decorate your church, promote a special series, or just welcome visitors with one of over 40 standard graphic insert designs.Outreach can also create a full custom graphic for your LED sign - call 800-991-6011 for details and to order a custom graphic.
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I have read the Riggers part of the core rulebook, but I am still confused about some aspects of using drones. Could someone help me?
- I am more or less sure the Device Rating of any drone is equal to its Pilot attribute, so 3 for most drones.
- Half of this rounded up (so 2) is the number of Autosofts any drone can run at the same time.
- So a drone can look (Clearsight) and fly (Maneuvering), but cannot at the same time shoot (Targeting). If it tries to shoot, it either must go blind, or drop from the sky, so it is basically useless on its own.
- Is there any way to increase this limit to at least 3?
- If I use the most expensive RCC without any noise reduction, I can run 6 autosofts simultanously. So now the drone can look, fly, shoot, evade, sneak and defend itself from Matrix attacks. It is bordering on usable, but only as long as I do not use different types of drones (requiring different kinds of programs) and they are all equipped with the same kind of weapons. There goes the versatility.
Am I reading this correctly? Autonomous drones can only do surveillance, while being quite conspicuous; and even if I control them with an RCC, they all must be of one kind?


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Are you left handed guitarist? Sick of feeling left out after years of visiting guitar shops full of right handed instruments? Well, Gibson is setting out to make up for all that this August with the SouthPaw Tour.
Gibson USA will be taking a huge selection of its left handed guitars to music shops around the UK for a series of in-store events, which will feature a Gibson product specialist on hand to talk guitar-starved left handers through the instruments.
The Southpaw Tour will visit these stores on the following dates:
5 August - Dawsons Music, Liverpool
6 August - PMT, Manchester
7 August - PMT, Birmingham
8 August - Dawsons Music, Reading
9 August - Guitar Guitar, London
10 August - Nevada Music, Portsmouth
For more information, see in store at the above locations.


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Just in...
Reverse 'grommet' leggings: From LF.
Just added these to my closet. Outfit post with them soon!
**The winner of the 'Love' give away has been notified by email. Unfortunately I had to stop announcing winners on the blog as people started sending fake emails claiming to be the winner. Sad but true!


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The Norwegian government will provide funding to continue development of the Joint Strike Missile. (Kongsberg Defence Systems Concept)
Dec. 4, 2013 - By ANDREW CHUTER – Defense news
The Norwegian government will provide funding to continue development of the Joint Strike Missile.
LONDON — Kongsberg has secured New Zealand as a customer for its Penguin anti-ship missile and agreed to a deal with the Norwegian government to provide stop-gap funding on its Joint Strike Missile (JSM) program while parliamentary approval is awaited to complete development of the weapon.
The missile deals were among four announcements made by Norway's top contractor over the last few days.
The company said it has also signed a framework agreement with the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation (NDLO) to support and maintain systems it has supplied to the Norwegian Navy and is progressing efforts to integrate the JSM on Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter.
The New Zealand Defence Force has purchased a small number of Penguin Mk2 Mod 7 anti-ship missiles and associated equipment to equip new Kaman SH-2G (I) Super Seasprite helicopters acquired by the Navy.
New Zealand has purchased eight SH-2G(I)'s from a batch of machines originally purchased by Australia before the deal was canceled. The Penguins are thought to have come from the same original customer.
"This contract strongly confirms the Penguin missile's position as the leading missile within its segment. The contract is for a limited number of missiles, however it is considered an important upgrade of New Zealand's Navy," said Pal Bratlie, the executive vice president at Kongsberg Defence Systems.
No contract value was given.
Kongsberg has also signed a NOK 480 million ($78 million) deal with the NDLO to continue work on the JSM ahead of the Norwegian Parliament's expected approval of the final phase of development of the weapon.
An earlier version of the weapon, known as the Naval Strike Missile, has already been acquired by Norway and Poland for maritime and coastal defense roles.
The new JSM weapon is being developed principally, but not exclusively, for the Lockheed Martin F-35 joint strike fighter for anti-surface and naval fire support missions.
Norway has already committed to buying the F-35 and is looking to equip the fighter with the new long-range weapon, which can be carried internally in the bomb bay or externally.
Walter Qvam, Kongsberg's CEO, said the international F-35 user consortium is showing great interest in the missile.
Phase 2 development is complete and Kongsberg said in a statement that to "ensure competence and progress between phase 2 and phase 3 the Norwegian Armed Forces have signed a bridging phase contract prior to Parliamentary proceedings and approval of the entire JSM development phase 3."
Work in phase 2 included detailed design and early integration work on the F-35 as well as the F/A-18 and the F-16.
Kongsberg said it had recently completed a fit-check of the JSM on the external pylons of an F/A-18F at Boeing's St. Louis facility.
In its most recent announcement, Kongsberg said Dec 3 that it had secured a NOK 165 million deal with the Norwegian Navy to support, maintain and further develop systems it had supplied, including Nansen-class frigates, Ula-class submarines and various training centers.
Missiles, sonar systems, command and control, and navigation equipment are all included in the six-year contract.
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Thursday, April 7, 2011
Battery Recharging Myth-Busting: Don't Completely Drain Your LiIon Batteries
Posted by Jason Dunn in "Laptop Thoughts Articles & Resources" @ 01:30 PM
"Battery-centric web site Battery University explains the real relationship behind battery life and charging. Lithium-ion batteries-the batteries present in most modern smartphones and laptops-don't need to be fully discharged every once in a while to retain battery life, as many of us have been told. In fact, it's quite the opposite..."
Over the years, I'm sure we've all heard a lot of crazy battery advice: don't recharge your phone/laptop/MP3 player until it's completely dead; don't charge it too often; when you're not using it, take out the battery, etc. Much like telling someone they need to defrag their Wi-Fi connection, some of these "tips" just aren't true. This article gives you some important tips about how to maximize the battery life on your portable device.


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Kong's WIP thoughts - December #03
by Roman aka jar
posted by roman, jarhead, kong
Aloa Jungle visitors.
Yesterday - on Sunday - Peter, who is visiting us in Augsburg joined me for a relaxed painting afternoon in the studio. We really enjoyed painting together even the heating of the studio troubles us in these cold days. It doesn't work properly and it was getting cold quick in our bones. At the next visit of the studio we got to tell the janitor about it. Hopefully he has a solution.
I am really impressed by Peter's actual WIP - he is painting a big roman horseman - and that horse is so huge and heavy as it is cast from metal.
For me there are so many WIPs waiting to be done and I really enjoy doing one after the other to get my mind free again. Thanks to Bestienmeister who saved my soul with his blogpost and the song that calms my mind.
Luckily not all the WIPs you see here in our cabinet at the studio are by me. Some are Raffa's and some are Bene's but unfortanetly I have even more in my cabinet at home. Ouchy! Purple!
I did finish my version of the Medusa finally - redone the eyes and did some final touches to her skin. Final photos of her seem far away at the moment but this is not too bad as I will finish some more WIPs soon so there will be a big photo session.
Article that brings you thoughts and examples on how you can paint eyes.
I am also making plans about another project I'll do for an upcoming painting competition - I really love that scene and want to create it with a different topic/theme:
I did paint some more on another older WIP - Sergeant Corwinn from Wonderland Miniatures - a truely lovely bust to paint. I really enjoy finding my way deeper in this figure/character. Romain is such a god when it comes to sculpting.
There is still a lot of work ahead of me and it looks like I am having troubles painting eyes on the first go these days. So I will for sure have another try on the eyes as they are not yet what I seeked.
Maybe I am getting old or I just have to switch the brush - we'll see.
By the way did you see Wonderlands Project Indigogo Campaign?
- there is truely nice stuff waiting for the supporters.
Don't forget you can win a Sergeant Corwinn bust at our actual BANANALICIOUS painting contest.
So far from the table - keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes